Affairs of the Nation

Martin Fraser.

Affairs of the Nation

TAKING BREXIT SERIOUSLY

IF, as we are constantly reminded, the consequences of Brexit will create the greatest challenge to the Irish body politic since the foundation of the state why are we not... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

O’BRIEN’S KERINS PRECEDENT

IS IT fear of serial litigant Denis O’Brien that has produced the media understatement about Angela Kerins’s adverse judgment, namely that it might have “some bearing” on his case against... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

BUSY LIZZY’S ROUGH RIDE

THERE WAS surely plenty of uncomfortable shuffling in the saddle by players in the horseracing industry after TD Clare Daly let fly at the sector in the Dáil last week,... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

Affairs of the Nation

CHRISTIAN CARTER’S CHARITY WORK

IT HAS been a bad start to 2017 for Christian Carter (brother of Marissa “Cocoa Brown” Carter, see p18), who ended up in the Circuit Court last month as a... Read more »
Ian Hyland

Affairs of the Nation

IAN HYLAND’S STATE SUPPORT

IAN HYLAND must have been delighted with the puff piece in The Irish Times last week singing the praises of his latest wheeze, the Dublin Tech Summit (DTS), which is... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

GOING FOR GOLD AT THE OCI

THE ELECTION of Pat Hickey’s successor as president of the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) takes pace at the end of this week but there are other positions to be... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

Honohan v Ryan

MASTER of the High Court Ed Honohan irked Me’ Luds yet again in the New Year with a front page splash in The Irish Times where he attacked Circuit Court... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

VIRGIN SAVIOUR FOR ‘IRISH TIMES’?

THERE is little disagreement about the extent of The Irish Times’ financial crisis with Denis O’Brien taking pleasure in pointing to it last year and the newspaper’s managing director, Liam... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

Cashing in on AIB float

RECENT reports that AIB is planning the sale of hundreds of properties to vulture funds such as Cerberus suggests the move to privatise AIB is imminent. The news of AIB... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Pillars of Society

Dara Murphy

THE perverse priorities of An Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s political appointments are personified by the undistinguished Dara Murphy, junior minister for European affairs. Murphy has... Read more »

The Young Bloods

The Young Bloods

Rudi Butler

Rudi Butler, far left THE RISING tide of the property market is bringing a new generation of plucky young developers to prominence, few of... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Fit to Print?

RONAN FANNING’S ‘WHITE NIGGER’

“A DEEP appreciation of the importance of archives” and “a relish for the power plays of high politics” were just two of the glowing – and very accurate – tributes... Read more »
Denis-Obrien

Fit to Print?

O’BRIEN’S DAMNED STATISTICS

COVERAGE of the latest JNLR (12 months to December 2016) radio ratings of Denis O’Brien’s Newstalk in Denis O’Brien’s Irish Independent was hilarious in its efforts to obscure the deepening... Read more »
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Fit to Print?

Sindo discretion

IRISH TIMES literary correspondent Eileen Battersby would not have been displeased at her newspaper’s review last autumn of her first novel, Teethmarks on My Tongue, penned by Katherine A Powers... Read more »

Last Refuge

Stephen Donnelly

Last Refuge

WICKLOW’S SOCIAL DEMOCRAT

MEDIA punditry about Stephen Donnelly reneging on his Independent, social democrat principles was predicated on the notion that he had cunningly negotiated his way into a future Fianna Fáil cabinet.... Read more »

Last Refuge

SIPTU BOSS CHALLENGES HOWLIN

IS LABOUR preparing for a new party chief already? Current leader Brendan Howlin’s “welcome” for Siptu boss Jack O’Connor’s bid for chair of the party was a little lukewarm. Howlin... Read more »

Last Refuge

Greedy-Raes

KERRY’S EYE turned its beady focus on TD brothers Mikey and Danny Healy-Rae recently with a wealth of detail about the mountain of moolah the lads bring home from their... Read more »

Last Refuge

SINN FÉIN’S COALITION STRATEGY

A CAREFULLY formulated article on coalition government by key Sinn Féin strategist Eoin Ó Broin in the Sunday Business Post recently was, if anything, more indicative of the party’s coalition... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

‘Go and fuck yourselves. Read the Irish Times!’ A DROMOD man was given probation when he appeared at Carrick-on-Shannon District Court charged with threatening, abusing or insulting behaviour during an... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

Fowl Emissions

FRACKING: TO BAN OR NOT TO BAN?

THE Times of India described the Dáil’s progress of the bill as “historic”, while Russia Today recorded “an important moment in the history of the Divestment Movement”. But if you... Read more »

Foreign Frolics

Foreign Frolics

BEFORE TRUMP, THE BORDER WALL WAS A BIPARTISAN PROJECT

by OLIVER ORTEGA RIGHTWING fantasies of a southern border wall are not new. Nor are they limited to Republicans or Trump supporters. When President Trump signed an executive order last... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

The Hot Air Brigade

The Hot Air Brigade

We were those emigrants who first saw Ms Liberty appearing out of the Hudson fog and said we had realised our ambition to be able to go to the US.... Read more »

High Society

High Society

BIG BUCKS IN BEAUTY BUSINESS

INTERESTING to discover that Marissa Carter, the woman behind the very popular Cocoa Brown tanning product, is set to expand her burgeoning empire, as is another player in the increasingly... Read more »

High Society

LUCY NAGLE’S FASHIONABLE FIGURES

THE SINDO’s favourite designer, Lucy Nagle, got yet another plug last weekend when described by Barry Egan as, er, “the Goddess of the gansey” in an article promoting her fashion... Read more »
Patrick Doran

High Society

PATRICK DORAN’S PROFITS

ONE NAME that has popped up in the ongoing saga over the proposed sale of Walford to a Dermot Desmond family trust is that of Foxrock-based Patrick Doran, who is... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Behind the Scenes

KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILY

FOLLOWING THE exit at the end of 2016 of Sarah Lynch, general manager of Galway’s Druid Theatre for the previous 18 years, there has been something of shake-up at the... Read more »
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Behind the Scenes

Hot Chocolate

AN ARTS centre on King’s Street in Dublin 1, the Chocolate Factory, has initiated legal action against Dublin City Council (DCC), although nobody is saying what the problem is. The... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

FILM BOARD’S FAMILIAR WINNERS

THE IRISH Film Board (IFB) has just published its fourth quarter offers for 2016 and it transpires that “loans” amounting to €2m were dispensed with the generosity of Santa Claus... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Sport of Kings

SADDLING UP AT HRI

AFTER MORE than 15 years with Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) Michael O’Rourke has called it a day as director of marketing to pursue a career as a consultant. The result... Read more »
Amber Byrne

Sport of Kings

NEW FACES

IT WAS surprising to see John Osborne deciding to step down from his position as chief executive of the Irish National Stud at the end of the 2017 breeding season... Read more »

Sport of Kings

BALLYMORE BACK IN THE GAME

HOW LONG before Sean Mulryan’s silks are back on the racecourse? Not long it seems, following news that his Ballymore Properties has resumed its sponsorship at the Punchestown Festival. Back... Read more »

Reviews

Reviews

JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL … GATE THEATRE

TEMPTING as it is, you can’t blame La La Land. The Hollywood awards favourite may bring American musicals back into the mainstream, but Irish theatre producers have been dubiously dabbling... Read more »

Radio

DRIVETIME RADIO – RADIO 1, NEWSTALK, TODAY FM

WELCOME to la la land. Sarah McInerney, co-presenter of Newstalk Drive, couldn’t contain her giddiness as she introduced a discussion on this year’s Oscar nominees. Her exhilaration even extended to... Read more »

Books

HOSTAGES – OISÍN FAGAN (NEW ISLAND BOOKS)

MIXING MAGIC realism with sci-fi dystopian horror and elements of pulp fiction, this series of standalone parables consists of five (longish) short stories, each set in a disturbing world not... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

Aryzta is now a buy-out target

OWEN KILLIAN in Aryzta has been hit by a perfect storm and is under particular pressure from his new largest shareholder, Causeway Capital Management, which last year bought a 7.5%... Read more »
Charles Gallagher

Moneybags

Abbey shareholders increasingly isolated

HAVING GAINED control of the Abbey house building group with the blessing of the Irish Stock Exchange (ISE) authorities, Charlie Gallagher has now begun the final round of buy-ins that... Read more »

Moneybags

Taxman tackles Clare businessmen

GOLDHAWK spotted a couple of interesting names in Stubb’s Gazette recently, including Clare publican Martin Tubridy who had five separate tax judgments registered against him in January totalling €17,000. Luckily... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

The Hot Water Brigade

Small mercies for Tadhg Gunnell

FORMER Bloxham director Tadhg Gunnell had a rare spot of luck at the end of January when he managed to successfully appeal part of a disciplinary tribunal ruling of Chartered... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

Dublin City Council’s pyrite saga rolls on

GOLDHAWK’s old pals at Irish Asphalt (IA) Ltd had a bruising start to 2017 after Cavan builders James Elliott Construction (JEC) Ltd registered a judgment against it for nearly €2.7m... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

Derek O’Leary’s good day in court

CONGRATULATIONS to Goldhawk’s old pal Foxrock developer Derek O’Leary who had a pretty decent day in the Court of Appeal recently. One of O’Leary’s property companies, D&L Properties Ltd, is... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

Carlow beer barons brew up success

CONGRATULATIONS are in order for the beer barons at Carlow Craft Brewery Ltd, the company behind the increasingly popular O’Hara’s range of craft beers. The Mhuine Beg brewer filed its... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

Industrial distress in Trinity College

A ROW between management and workers has been on the boil in Trinity College where Unite and Siptu have been involved in talks with the college’s human resources department for... Read more »